Final Fantasy VIII: The Novelization
by DamionOWA
Summary: Final Fantasy VIII, in a story form. I've added a bit, and took out almost nothing. I've finished to the end of the Dollet mission so far.


**_Final Fantasy VIII - The Novelization_**

**_Written by Damion, One-Winged Angel_**

**__**

I'll be here… 

Why?

I'll be 'waiting'… here… 

For what?

_I'll be waiting for you… so…_

_If you come here…_

_You'll find me._

**_I promise._**

"Welcome, class," Instructor Quistis Trepe said, starting today's session. Quistis taught at the famous military academy called Balamb Garden.  Balamb Garden, accepts students from 5-20 years old, and is used to train used to train SeeDs. SeeDs were elite mercenaries who were trained for missions all over the world, and were recognized as the best ever. Garden accepted new students from ages 5-15. Squall Leonheart walked through the door. Squall was a normal sized 18-year old, wearing a black leather jacket, always open, with a tank top underneath. He wore a lion necklace, and a matching ring over his glove. He also made a statement out of wearing 6 belts, one around his waist, two across his hips in a X formation, and three wrapped tightly around the right thigh of his black cargo pants. He acted very closed to everyone, and rarely socialized. His reputation for being a lone wolf was wide-spread. As he made his way to his seat, he noticed everyone looking at him and whispering. _What are they all stirred up about? _thought Squall. 

"….whatever." he said. .As normal, Squall sat in the back of the class. Unlike most students, who shared a study panel, Squall had his own desk. Once he turned it on, there was a message that showed up on the Garden Square BBS message board for him.

Meet me at Pinnacle Mountain after 

class for some "training", Leonheart.

                        -Almasy

Squall sighed. The Garden Square was a public message board, a place where all students went on the computer network to get to know one another, to hear notices, and generally for their own amusement. The message was right in the public area, which meant the whole school now knew that Seifer had challenged him. He looked over at the bench across the row from him. The seat held Seifer Almasy. Seifer was a problem child who was always picking fights. He and Squall were at Garden when Squall was five, and were always fighting. He was a year older than Squall, having failed last year's SeeD test. They regarded each other as fierce rivals. Seifer had blond hair. He wore a white ankle-length trench coat, black cargo pants, and a shirt that zipped up on the front with a cross on it. Seifer was smirking at him. _Damn, he's got me against a wall, _he thought._ Oh, well. Might as well get some training in anyway. _

"Now class, before we start our SeeD written exams, we must go over a few announcements." Quistis started. "The exchange students from Trabia Garden are coming in tomorrow. Everyone is expected to bunk an extra person for two days." Everyone groaned. Most SeeD candidates had double rooms, with both beds filled. Squall had his double room all to himself.  Squall never got bunkmates when exchange students come in. After Yue Takamoshi from Trabia Garden, no one ever wanted to bunk with Squall again. _He was a fool, _thought Squall. Takamoshi eventually ended up challenging Squall. He was in the infirmary for a week."Rajin, 'Hello, Pupurun' is in at the library, but you can't get it until you take 'Goodbye, Pupurun' back. It's overdue." Rajin Hefty turned red as everyone laughed. "Oh, and Seifer, send personal messages on the private system." Seifer pounded his desk. 

"All right, with that said, it's time for the test," said Quistis. If you will please turn on the computers, I will insert the disk for the test. Each computer in the room was turned on. There were three rows, with a desk in a row. Each desk had a large computer, and was meant to be shared between two students. Squall and Seifer were at the very back, across from each other and with desks to themselves.Quistis walked down each row, and inserted a disk into a slot in the side. Once she input the Teacher's code, they loaded, and she removed the disk. After that, she moved to the next desk over, until all the disks had a test loaded.

Once the test had loaded, Squall began to fill it out. It wasn't hard, the multiple choice questions all at the elementary level for Squall, who spent his time in class studying, unlike the other students, who liked to chatter. The situational drill questions were also easy to answer, for the bread and butter of being SeeD was to be prepared for everything. He finished his test, and then looked it over, to be sure that he had not made any mistakes or put a check in the wrong column.

After an hour, he had finished. There was still an hour left, but Squall was permitted to leave. Seifer had finished at the same time, and as they walked out of the room, he whispered, "See you on Pinnacle." Before he left, he had to drop by his dorm room to pick up his weapon. Both Squall and Seifer used a gunblade, a sword with a gun handle. The bullets weren't fired with long-range capacity, but they still did damage. Gunblades were famous for their difficulty to wield, and both Squall and Seifer were highly praised for it. While Seifer loved the attention, that was the last thing Squall wanted. Gunblade in hand, he went to the parking lot and rode his motorcycle up to Pinnacle Mountain. Pinnacle was a popular training ground, often used by the students. Squall was surprised that Seifer was the only one there. Squall got off his motorcycle, and looked around. The landscape was not snowy, the elevation wasn't high enough for that. It was mostly gray rock, surrounding them till you got high up the mountain. Squall drew his gunblade, and walked towards Seifer.

"Shall we, Leonheart?" Seifer asked mockingly.

"When you're ready." Squall answered. 

They started sparring with their swords, blocking every slash. The majority of Seifer's attacks were spinning slashes and sideways cuts, each successive one was harder to block on Squall's end. He tried to counter by slashing sideways, but Seifer was blocking as efficiently as Squall was. When Squall thought Seifer was going to try a downward slash, and thus putting it out perpendicular to where he imagined Seifer's blade would hit, Seifer instead speared the trigger part of Squall's gunblade, coming dangerously close to relieving the SeeD cadet of his fingers. Seifer then brought his sword, still locked with the Revolver gunblade of Squall's, down and then back up quickly. This launched the blade high into the air. As Squall looked up to see where the gunblade would land, Seifer spun around and caught him in the chin. Squall's knees buckled, and he fell backwards to the ground, cracking his head. Darkness licked across his vision, but he stood up quickly, straightening himself. His gunblade spun back to earth, and landed just in front of him. He pulled it out of the ground, kicking up none of the soft terrain. 

Squall seemed revived by this, with a series of slashes, each unanswerable by Seifer. Seifer fought back, delivering a set of three spinning strokes in a row, each blocked by Squall. Seifer tried a downwards slash, but found himself at a gridlock with Squall, who was pushing back with equal force, making either of them unable to act. Seifer sneered and kicked at Squall's kneecap, which forced him back and threw him onto his backside. He still held his sword, however. Squall started to run at Seifer, but Seifer held out his hand and fire started to gather. _Damn! He's going to cast magic! _Squall thought. _I can't dodge it at this speed! _Seifer hit Squall with the Fire magic, as Squall raced to cleave him.Squall was knocked down again, and as he got to his knees to stand up again and fight, Seifer wore a look of pure malice and drew a line across Squall's face with his gunblade, pulling the trigger. There were only blanks in them, but the vibrations served to do more injury. This opened a gashe across Squall's face, from his cheekbone to the bottom of his forehead, coming between his eye and his nose on the left side, giving him a shallow wound. _Shit! _Squall thought. His blood flowed from his face. He didn't fall, however, and charged back at Seifer, cutting upwards to give Seifer a mirror image of the same cut Squall had. Seifer staggered backwards, and Squall fell to a knee, shaking from the blood lost. _I don't have the strength… _Squall thought. "Sis… I'm sorry…" he whispered, and he blacked out.

"Damn…" Seifer said, feeling the new groove in his forehead. "That bastard cut me up good…it's probably going to scar." He looked at Squall. "He's bleeding pretty bad… Must've struck a vein." Seifer picked Squall up and started to walk back towards Garden. _You owe me for this, Leonheart… _ Seifer thought as he trudged down the mountain.

***

            _white…light…a cool breeze…a window…where am I…footsteps…someone's coming…who?…Dr. Kadowaki…the infirmary…the scar… _Last nights events suddenly came back to Squall. Before he could dwell on it, Dr. Kadowaki started to talk to him. 

"OK, how are you feeling?" she asked. 

"……Ok." he answered, holding his head. 

"Take it easy next time, you hear!" she said. 

"……" Squall thought. _I wasn't planning on coming here…_

"It looks like your eyes are focusing. You should be fine. Say your name for me." she said.

"Squall."

"Why don't you take it easy in training? Next time you might not be so lucky," She said.

"……Tell that to Seifer," Squall replied.

"That Seifer. Won't listen to anyone. Why won't you just ignore him?" she asked.

"I can't just run away," Squall answered.

"You wanna be cool, huh? Just don't get hurt in the process." She said

_Popularity has nothing to do with it. _Squall thought. _I feel like… I'm fighting for someone. …Sis? Who is Sis? I remember, I loved her… and one day she left. Am I fighting for Sis? My head hurts… I should stop thinking…_

"Let's see. Your instructor is… Quistis. I'll call her. Just hold on a second." She left, and Squall could hear her in the next room talking on the phone. "Quistis?" she began. "Come get your student. ….Yes, yes. …His injury's not serious. It'll probably leave a scar. Come her as soon as possible, please. Goodbye."

Squall was resting when all of a sudden a strange girl walked into the room beside him. The rooms had a glass window you could talk through that was tinted when something private was going on.

"Squall… so we meet again." the girl said. She then turned around and headed out of the infirmary. _Who is that?_ Squall thought. He then went to sleep.

He was woken up by the door to his room opening. In walked his instructor, Quistis Trepe. She had blond hair that was tied in the back and loose on the sides, She wore glasses and the female SeeD instructor's uniform, a combination of a done-up jacket with a gold design and a black skirt.

"I knew it would be either you or Seifer!" she exclaimed. 

"……" Squall thought to himself, not saying anything. 

"Come on, let's go. Today's the field exam." They left the infirmary.

Quistis talked to Squall as they walked to the classroom. "Is there something on your mind, Squall?" she asked. 

"……Not really," he said as Quistis said it at the same time. Squall stopped. _I wish she would stop doing that, _he thought. 

Quistis laughed. 

"What's so funny? he asked. 

"Funny? No, it's just that I'm happy. Happy that I understand my student a little more," she replied, 

_Oh really? _Squall thought. "I'm more complex than you think," said Squall. 

"Then tell me," she said, "Tell me more about yourself."  Squall started walking again, and said, "none of your-"

"Business!" Quistis finished. She giggled.

_I wish she'd stop doing that, _he thought. They started to walk to class. On the way out of the infirmary walkway, a student talked to Squall.

"You're up," he said.

"……" Squall thought

"Ì saw you come in. You were bleeding pretty badly. Seifer Almasy carried you in… Funny, you guys are always fighting." he said. 

"……whatever." Squall said. _Seifer carried me in? _Squall thought. _I'm probably going to hear about it. _He left to go to class.

            Squall walked into class. Like yesterday, everyone was whispering while staring at him. _What's their problem today?_ he thought. "……Whatever." he said. As he sat at his desk, Seifer smirked at him. _Uh-oh… I don't like this. _Squall thought. He turned on his computer. There was a message on the message board for him. As he began to read, he noticed the whole class was staring at him, and Seifer had a wide smile on his face. The message read;

You owe me, Leonheart.

                        -Almasy

            Quistis walked in and stood at the front. "Good morning, class," she started. "Let's start with today's schedule. There seem to have been some rumors flying around yesterday…Yes, the SeeD field exam is today at 1700. Those who are not participating and those that failed yesterday's written test are to remain here in study hall. Field exam participants will have free time until the exam. Just be sure you're in top condition. Report to the main lobby at 1600. I'll hand out team assignments there. Any questions?" There were none. "Oh, Seifer. Do NOT injure your partner while training. Be careful from now on." Seifer pounded his fist on the desk. "Field exam participants, I will see you all later. And Squall, I need to talk to you." The class left except Squall. He walked towards the front. As he drew closer, three students gathered around her backed off and lined up. _Feh. Trepies. _Squall thought. Quistis had a large group of admirers that were given the name "Trepies". 

"You better show some courtesy to Instructor Trepe!" one of them said as Squall passed. 

"……Whatever." Squall replied. He bypassed them and went straight to Quistis.

"You haven't been to the Fire Cavern yet, have you?" she asked. "You won't be able to take part in the SeeD field exam if you don't pass this prerequisite." 

_I was going to go this morning, but Seifer… _Squall thought. 

"Hm? Do you have a good reason?" Quistis asked.

"……No." Squall answered.

"Then let's get going." Quistis said. "I'll be waiting at the front gate, so come down when you're ready." She started to walk out the door. "Oh, and Xu said she left a message during class on your private mail." Xu was a senior Garden official, the supervisor for the SeeD tests. Squall walked to the back of the class and sat down at his desk and logged on. Sure enough a message was waiting for him;

       Because the field exam is today, 

your first permanent GFs are ready.

      I'm at the library, so report here 

before you take your exam.

                                    -Xu

GFs were Guardian Forces, being possessing great power. They are summoned using a special command. GFs were the strength of SeeD. Lately though, GF critics were complaining about a theory that GFs take hold in your brain, the place where your memory is stored, making it fade away. Squall had used GFs before, but he had never had a permanent one. He had also heard the point of the Fire Cavern prerequisite was to sneak into a GF's home to capture it, but that was unconfirmed. He got up and left. On his way out, he heard the only male Trepie of the three standing by the door say, "Alone with Instructor Trepe…"

_Get a grip. _Squall thought. "……Whatever." He left the room and started walking down the hall. All of a sudden he heard a voice traveling through the connecting walkway high above the first floor at high speed. 

"I'm late, I'm late, I'm LATE!!" A small missile with a hair that curled straight up dressed in a female SeeD cadet uniform crashed into Squall. She was about 5'7". 

Squall frowned. "……" _Haven't seen her before… must be from Trabia. _

The girl got up and said, "Sorry. I was in kind of a hurry. Oh yeah! Did you just come from that class?" she asked. Squall nodded. "Is… homeroom over?" Squall nodded again. "Woo… Oh, no. Oh, hey, hey! I just transferred here. Do you think you can give me a quick tour of this Garden?" she asked. 

"……Whatever." he replied.

"Whoo-hoo! All right, let's go!" she exclaimed.

"Just follow me," he said. "We're going to the directory on the first floor." Squall headed across the walkway. 

Before he got to the elevator, a student asked him, "Hey, do you want these cards? My brother gave them to me, but they're not really my thing. You can have them if you like," he offered, holding up seven Triple Triad cards. Squall was semi-interested. He had seen kids around Garden playing it, but he had never had the time to focus in on a game. 

"……Whatever," he said, and accepted the cards.

"How do you play? I don't know, You should-"

"All right, all right, let's GO already!" the transfer student exclaimed.

"……Whatever," Squall said. They went down the elevator.

In the elevator, Squall started explaining Garden to the transfer student. "Garden has three floors. The 1st and 2nd floors are round. The 2F holds all the study halls and classrooms, but the 1F holds all the departments."

"What's on the 3F?" the girl asked.

"The headmaster's office. Students are prohibited to enter." Squall replied.

"What's his name?"

"Cid. The 1F is orientated in a circle, and there's a walkway in between Garden and the department. There are 8 departments in total, including the Front Gate." Squall said. The elevator doors opened. They walked out into the Lobby. Squall pointed down the stairs in front of the elevator. There was a large gray display. "That's the directory," Squall said. They walked to it. "I'll give a description of the departments. The dorms are located in the north block. Most of the students are housed in the dorms, and not many commute."

"I'm in the dorms too!" the girl exclaimed. 

"You can rest and change in there. West of the North Block is the Cafeteria. Their hot dogs are pretty popular, so you better get used to waiting in line. East of the North Block is the Parking Lot. Many students keep their various cars in there. We usually ride a Garden car when a mission comes up." _I wonder if anyone brought my bike down from Pinnacle? Seifer… _"Located to the south is the front gate. I'm headed there next. I have to take the Fire Cavern exam."

"I have to take that too!" the girl exclaimed.

"You can only take them by yourself and a SeeD member. All the instructors count as SeeDs."

"Too bad…"

"……" Squall frowned to himself. "In the West Block is the Quad. There's an event being held there-"

"I know! I know! It's the Garden Festival!" the girl interrupted. "It's going to be great! I'm on the committee! You wanna help out too?" she asked.

"……" Squall frowned. "South of the West Block is the Infirmary. This is where you come to treat your injuries, but a lot of students just come in here fore advice."

"What's the doctor's name?" the girl asked.

"Kadowaki."

"In the East Block is the Training Center. It's the only facility open at night.  They have real monsters running around in there. Just be careful, or you'll end up dead." 

The girl gulped. "Okay."

"South of the East Block is the Library. You can take out books there, but the terminals are a lot more efficient. That's about it."

"Heey, are you taking today's SeeD exam?" the girl asked.

"Yes." Squall answered."

"I already finished my training at Trabia. I'm taking the SeeD test today too. So good luck to both of us, huh? Thanks a lot!" she said as she walked away. 

_I have to get my gunblade and my GFs before I go. Hmm… I'm a bit hungry, too. I guess Quistis wouldn't mind. _Squall thought. He walked to the Cafeteria. As he walked in he noticed the B-Garden Disciplinary committee. Seifer and his two buddies, Rajin and Fuujin. It was weird how the most problematic student in Garden got to be head of the Disciplinary Committee. They rarely ever actually stopped anything bad happening, they just used their power to muscle their way into any position. He heard them talking.

"SEIFER. DRINK?" asked Fuujin. Fuujin was an albino, wearing a blue long-sleeve dress shirt with tons of pockets. She was also wearing a white shoulder guard with a Japanese character on it and black cargo pants. She also wore an eye patch, and her voice was damaged from some past experience. Seifer crossed his arms across his chest and said nothing. 

"I'd really like a drink too! I'd like some water, ya know!" said Seifer's other buddy, Rajin. He was a large muscled dark-skinned man. He worebaggy pants, and a blue vest. His brain, unfortunately fit into a thimble. He tried to act cool, and he felt that he achieved that just by hanging around Seifer. All three were the best of friends. 

"IGNORE," said Fuujin. Seifer still said nothing. Squall started to walk by, but Rajin started talking to him.

"Yo, it's Squall, ya know!" He then sidled up to Squall. "It's Fuujin's treat, ya know. Want somethin'?"

"RAGE!" Fuujin yelled, then walked up to Rajin and viciously kicked him in the shin.

"AHH! Ouuu… ah …" Rajin yelled. He then whispered to Squall, "Fuujin's pretty harsh at times, so you better watch it too, ya know." 

"WHAT?" Fuujin asked.

"Oh! ahh… it's nothing. Really, ya know!" Rajin replied. 

At this moment, a student came blazing through the cafeteria doors. His blond hair stuck straight up in the front and he had a black tattoo across his right cheek, He was wearing a SeeD cadet uniform, and his name was Zell Dincht. He was famous in Garden for being excitable and hot-headed. He stopped at the cash register. He caught his breath, then asked, "D-Do you h-have any hot dogs left?" 

The cafeteria lady said, "I'm sorry, you're too late. They're all sold out." 

"Damn! Not again!" he exclaimed. "It's hopeless if you don't get here early… Oh well, might as well come back tomorrow," he said. He then left. 

_That guy's an idiot, _Squall thought.

_That guy's an idiot, _Seifer thought.__

_That guy's an idiot, _Fuujin thought.__

_That guy's an idiot… ya know, _Rajin thought.

"Speeding," Seifer said. "Let's go arrest that student for violation of academy regulations!"

"AFFIRMATIVE!" Fuujin said.

"Roger, ya know!" Rajin said. They all left.

Squall got a hamburger, and walked over to the tables trying to sit by himself. He saw some Trepies.

_Don't talk to me… _"How're you doing, Squall?" _Ignore them and walk past… _"C'mon. Sit down, Squall!" _Damn… _"……whatever." He sat down. 

_Just don't talk about Quistis… _"Oh, Instructor Trepe…" said one of the two. _Damn… _"I cannot fall asleep at night, thinking of your radiating beauty… that is why I fall asleep in class… oh, how sinful you are…" 

"Snap out of it!" the other one said. "You're never gonna be a SeeD cause you're always thinking about her!" The other one, (he was sitting to the left of Squall, while Trepie #1 was on the opposite side of the square table as Squall) moved toward Squall and said, "Look at this weenie," he said. "He used to be the cream of the crop but look at him now. All over one woman."  _Hmm… _Squall thought. _This guy was a Trepie too. Looks like he either noticed how stupid he sounded or he actually got to know Quistis… Good for him. _"……whatever," he said, and left.

Squall stopped at the dorms to pick up his Gunblade. He went in his room and found a note taped to the case. 

I carried your gunblade down 

with me, Leonheart. Xu has it.

       -Almasy

With that read, Squall left and went to the library. On the way there, he was stopped by one of the Garden faculty. No one had ever seen one of their faces. They wore Japanese rice farmer hats tipped forward. They also wore long red and white robes. The garden faculty spoke to him.

"Student No. 41269?" Squall nodded. _Why can't he remember my name? Thanks to Seifer, everyone knows me. _"You're the problem child… don't you have the final SeeD exam today? And you're making Instructor Trepe wait!" Squall abruptly turned and left. "troublemaker…" the faculty said. Squall walked into the Library and saw Xu. She was an Oriental woman with black hair wearing a female SeeD uniform. This a gold pattern on the front. She held a small black box and Squall's gunblade. 

_She's not holding it right… No wonder people find it so hard to use. They're so preoccupied about the gun they forget it's still a sword. You can't cut cheese with it if you're not holding it right. _There were many models of gunblade, but the particular one that Squall used was a single-edged sword that was straight at the top but curved on the cutting edge. The handle was a modified revolver, with the standard amount of chambers, but modified so a blade could be in the middle. The revolver handle was extended and the angle changed so that it could be held and swung with leverage while a finger could still be a trigger. Contrary to popular belief, a gunblade could **not **just be shot, as the gun wasn't powerful enough and the bullets not large enough for long range firing. The hammer was still there, and Squall had a particular pendant attached to it. He wore this pendant on his necklace as well, and it was on the case of the gunblade. It was a roaring lion melded with a styled cross. Made out of silver, it was symbolic if only to Squall. 

Xu handed Squall a black box. "This is what is commonly known as the Junction System. It includes several Junction nodes," Xu said. The Junction System was a SeeD's secret weapon. It allowed the use of para-magic. Para-magic was magic carried and cast by a 

limited-omnipotent entity. This entity was known as a Guardian Force, or GF. GFs could also be summoned as it's own para-magic, and it could be used to draw magic or more GFs from enemies. GFs could also learn different types of para-magic, known as abilities. These abilities could range from increasing one's Strength, Vitality, etc. to causing special conditions by automatically casting magic at the beginning of battle which can protect against physical damage, and protect against or even reflect magic, to offensive abilities like Card which turned certain monsters into special cards used in the Triple Triad card game. There were also abilities with no use in battle like refining abilities, which turned items into magic, and then there were abilities which repelled monsters and gave the user special perceptive power to see natural points on the earth's surface from which to draw magic. However, none of these could be used until the GF was junctioned. The junction system allowed general contact with GFs, and communicated with the junction nodes. This was where the Junction nodes came in. All SeeD members were equipped with them. They communicated with the Junction System and could summon GFs or the magic to cast or other combat abilities. However, this was not without a price in the eyes of many, as GFs took residence in the mind of a person. Various GF critics were attempting to prove (and with a small measure of success) that GFs resided in the place in the brain where memory is stored, causing various long-term memory disorders. This theory was not yet proven, but on the way to standing there. As controversial as the GFs were, they were the secret weapons of SeeD. "See you at the exam!" Xu said, and left. Squall noticed something. There was a yellow magazine in the library's Reference section. _Odd, _Squall thought. _The garden faculty outlawed fiction or any non-educational books. _He bent down to pick it up. It was called Occult Fan. 

"Hey, is that an Occult Fan?" asked a SeeD cadet standing next to Squall. Squall nodded. "Those are rare! They showcase weird stuff throughout the world!" the guy said.

"……whatever," Squall said.

"Not interested, huh? Well, any store must be willing to buy one for tens of thousands of gil!" the cadet said. Gil was money used worldwide. "Hey, I have a question for ya!" the cadet continued. Esthar was the country that was ruled by this evil sorceress way back when, right? Whatever happened to this sorceress? Did someone overthrow her? Did we learn about this in class? I think I cut class that day, so, like, I have no idea what this sorceress is about!" 

_Try going to class next time, _Squall thought. "……Whatever." Squall left. 

He headed out the front gate. Quistis was waiting. Instead of wearing her SeeD instructor`s uniform, she was dressed in a zip-up orange dress, with brown sleeves that showed her shoulders. She also wore a long orange skirt. "Are we ready?" Squall nodded. "The Fire Cavern used for the test is located east of here.They left Balamb Garden  

The continent/country of Balamb was wide from east to west, but narrow from north to south. It was a very small island for a continent, and it had only three distinguishable locations. Along the entire north side of the continent was the Pinnacle mountain range, and there was a long rocky beach called the Rinaul coast which covered most of the southern side of the continent. At the western end of the beach, there was Balamb harbor. On that harbor was Balamb, the only "city" in the country. To the north in the center of Balamb lay the sprawled campus of Balamb Garden. The first and best of the 3 military Garden institutions, and the only one that could graduate SeeDs (Trabia to the north trains SeeDs up to the written exam then transfers them to Balamb while Galbadia to the west does not train or graduate SeeDs, instead just giving them military training, which is used sometimes to pass SeeD courses quckly,enter the Galbadian army, or just have the training) Balamb Garden was the major reason that Balamb, with no government, was independant and not an extension of Galbadia or Esthar, the country to the east. Balamb also was home to one end of the Intercontinental railway which stretched under a sea and connected to the town of Timber in Galbadia. The Abadan plains which covered Balamb were marked only by the road between Garden and Balamb, expansive forests, and the Fire Cavern. Located on the extreme eastern point of the continent, the Fire Cavern had no grass surrounding it, just rock formations. Squall and Quistis walked up the path. The entrance was guarded by two Garden Faculty. 

They talked to Squall. "Objective: To obtain a low-level GF. A SeeD member must support. Are you ready?" 

Squall's face hardened. He drew himself up into a stiff salute, and then said, "I'm ready."

Quistis saluted from behind Squall. "I'm his support. Instructor No. 14, Quistis Trepe."

The two Garden Faculty addressed Squall. "Choose a time limit. Challenging yet reasonable. You may choose in multiples of ten from ten to twenty minuites."

"And if I don't complete in time?" asked Squall.

"You must take the test again another day," one of the Faculty answered. "Have you made your decision?"

"Ten minutes," Squall decided.

"Very well. Good luck." Squall and Quistis started into the Fire Cavern. They started on the path. Quistis started talking as they walked. "My job is to support you in battle. Everything else is up to you," Quistis said.

_I could do just as well without you… _Squall thought. "……whatever.," he responded. They continued walking.

"You know, the boys often choke on this test when they come with me. I guess my charm makes them nervous," Quistis said.

_Where's she going with this? If she thinks I`m joing to bow down and lick her shoes like all those Trepies she`s badly mistaken, _Squall thought. "……whatever," he said with a frown. 

Quistis stopped. "I'm just kidding!" she said quickly. "Just joking around, trying to get you to relax a bit."

_You sounded like you had a different purpose all together, _Squall thought. "……whatever." They kept walking. The Fire Cavern was made of igneous rock. The front of the cave was just solid formations, but the farther you got to the back of the cave, the more mgama was seen.

"I guess I was right. You and Seifer both have amazing strength and potential," Quistis said.

_No need to kiss my ass, Quistis,_ Squall thought. "……whatever," he said.

They ran down a path of dirt, and the entire place was extremely heated. A thin sheen of sweat had began to cover Squall's forehead already. "Hot enough for you?" Quistis said with a grin. Squall gave no response. Squall halted, seeing a monster much like a bat come out of the ceiling. It looked much like a circular hub, with three sets of wings that rotated around in different directions. It gave the effect of a kind of circular saw. Two bats descended with it from the ceiling, and a pool of magma bubbled, and a large rock rolled out. Or what appeared to be one, as it rose from the ground, and a grotesque sneering face appeared on it. 

"The flying one is a Buel," said Quistis. "The flying ball of magma is a Bomb. Don't attack the bomb with fire, or it will do nothing but heal itself." 

"The Buel is a suitable target for fire, though?" Squall asked.

"Yes, it is," replied Quistis.

"Then take out those bats while I drop the Buel!" Squall said. "We'll take care of the Bomb afterwords!" Quistis nodded, and swung her whip around her head three times before creaming a Red Bat with it. Squall closed his eyes, and summoned to his mind the spell Fire, carried by being stocked by the Shiva GF in his name. A small explosion issued by the Buel, which engulfed it in flames. The skin of its wings burnt easily, and it crumpled to the ground, partly ash.

"Nice work!" Quistis said, as she knocked the last bat out of the air.

Squall didn't respond, and slashed at the Bomb. It swelled up a bit.

"WAIT!" Quistis cried. "If you give them enough time before you kill them, they'll explode to deal you more damage! The bigger it is, the closer it is to doing it!"

"I'll cast a spell then!" Squall said, and looked directly at the Bomb and murmured under his breath. Winds and cold air whipped through the battle ground, piercing the overwhelming heat. It carried snow, aimed only for the bomb. It whipped through the bomb, and froze him before melting off after the magic ended, thanks to the sweltering heat. The Bomb dropped to the ground, and lolled to a stop, dead. 

"Seems you know how to cast magic well," Quistis said, impressed. 

"It was all in the lessons, instructor." Squall replied. "Let's hurry up now." He trudged onwards, seeing a path that reached all the way to the back of the cavern. He kept to this path, even though there was little offshoots of cooled magma that went in a different direction. With Quistis in tow, the craggy path turned into smooth, still-warm rock. There was no protection or rails between it and the lake of lava below. 

"Be careful now, don't slip!" Quistis said. 

_Doesn't she think I could think that for myself? _He thought.

Up ahead, the path ended in a craggy area with huge ten to fifteen foot spikes lining the farther side. It was shaped in a circle, and in the center there was a boiling magma pool.

"Ok, this is it. Are you ready?" Quistis asked. 

"……whatever," Squall said with a wave of his hand. 

"You seem confident enough." Quistis said. At that moment, steam started pouring out of it and Ifrit came out. Ifrit was a Guardian Force with the elemental power of fire. He looked like huge red demon, in humanoid form but with a bull-like head. He was thickly muscled, and had black horns. 

_Hostile… _thought Squall. _No, defensive. We're hostile. We come in from the Eden to the west, break into his home and defeat him as a way of training our youth. _However, Squall had no more time to think, as Quistis charged forward, starting the battle going. Quistis started using Blizzard magic, when she called out to Squall.

"Summon Shiva!"  Quistis yelled, and Squall understood. Shiva was the elemental Ice GF. It was folklore that Shiva and Ifrit were either siblings or married. Squall closed his eyes and murmured a command word, and the landscape darkened. Squall and Quistis faded from view, leaving only Ifrit there, his massive shoulders heaving. Spirited away in more ways than one. With no body he could recognize, he regarded the scene. An icicle broke through the surface of the Fire Cavern floor. The icicle shattered into a million pieces, and a beautiful female spirit broke out of it. It was if she had exploded from a cage of her own building. She was the Guardian Force of Ice, Shiva. She was clothed in nothing, save an armor of ice that covered only her chest and the space between her legs. Her skin was a pale blue, and her long hair a bright shade of yellow. The hair was captivating, contrasting and blending with Shiva in a million ways at once. Her hand rose up and a ball of cold energy formed, throwing this energy toward the ground upon which Ifrit stood. He found himself mired in ice. She wove her hands, and all the ice shattered. The landscape faded, and Squall and Quistis returned to view. At this affront, Ifrit roared, "THEY HAVE SHIVA?" 

Quistis then prepared to cast her spell, and Blizzard hit while Ifrit was still unawares. As Ifrit reeled, Squall attacked with another blizzard, getting Ifrit nice and frosty. Ifrit staggered for a while and regained his balance, and looked forward towards the pair. 

"Not bad for a human." Ifrit said in a surprisingly soft voice. However, this is when Quistis decided to change strategies and rush forward and attack Ifrit with her weapon, a chain whip. She then jumped backwards, and Squall hit Ifrit with another Blizzard, suspecting that Ifrit wouldn't be happy at that paltry attack. He was right.

"IMPUDENT HUMANS!" Ifrit's voice resumed the roar again. He jumped up high and delivered a blow to Quistis on the way down. 

"Quistis!" Squall shouted, 

Quistis then waved him off, stumbled to her feet, and said something. Ifrit stopped, Squall stopped, even the lava stood still to hear her words. Squall was the only one that heard them, soft as they were. She casted Blizzard, with the mention of a command word. The whipping winds carrying snow flew at Ifrit again, and this time he dropped to one knee. 

"……to lose to a human……I will join you." Ifrit said in his stunningly soft voice for a being that looked every bit like the cartoon devil from our nightmares, huge, thickly muscled, and red with black horns. Steam then filled the room, and Ifrit was gone. 

Squall ran over to Quistis. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." She said. She then focused her mind, and casted Cure on herself A field of shimmering green surrounded Quistis, then dissipated. "Owwww! This may heal me, but it stings worse than anything," Quistis said. "Check the box." The box was the nickname given to the Junction System. He checked the box.. Sure enough, Ifrit was there waiting. 

Squall and Quistis then made their way back to Garden. The Faculty were gone on the way out. 

"Don't worry, the time limit only covers until you get Ifrit. You passed." 

_I wasn't worried. _Squall and Quistis said no words on the way back to Garden. 

Squall walked into the front gate of Garden. "Well done," Quistis said. "Now you have a little downtime. At 1600 go change into your uniform and meet in the lobby." 

Squall walked into the lobby. He saw Rajin running around. Seifer was leaning on the directory, reading a book called _The Sorceress' Knight_. 

Rajin ran up to Squall. "Have you seen Fuujin?" Rajin asked. "I haven't seen her anywhere, ya know!" Squall shook his head. "Can you help me look for her? I'm worried, ya know."

_Does she want to find you? _"……whatever," he said.

"Thanks, ya know!" Rajin started running clockwise around Garden looking for Fuujin. 

"……" Seifer said nothing.

Squall walked the opposite way, toward the library. He wanted to check out the mythology of GFs. He was interested, after what happened with Ifrit. He walked in. The librarian spoke to her. She was wearing a female SeeD cadet uniform, and had a pigtail. Her name was Melissa. 

"Have you seen Seifer Almasy?" she asked. Squall nodded. "The next time you see him, tell him to see me. _The Sorceress' Knight _is overdue, and he has it out."

"……whatever." Squall said, He walked into the reading room. It was a semi-circle, and the round side was full of reading seats. Squall found his book on GFs, then noticed something. Fuujin was sitting in one of the seats. She was reading a romance novel. _I'll just leave, and tell Rajin she's here._ He started to leave, then stopped as Fuujin called him in her hoarse voice.

"SQUALL." she said. Squall walked up to her.

"….Hello," he said.

"HELLO," she said. "FAVOR." she asked. Squall nodded.

"RAJIN.. TELL NOT."

"…..yes," he said.

"THANK," she said, and smiled. Squall looked back, and rose his hand to signal his leaving.

_Why do I notice her, _he thought? _Is it because she tries to avoid attention, like myself? She doesn't waste words… I wonder what she's really like._

Squall left. As he left, Fuujin smiled and thought to herself, _He sees me in him, as I see him in me. Maybe when I get the chance, I'll tell him about me. Maybe he'll tell me about him. And I'll tell him the one thing he doesn't know. _"KNIGHT," she whispered under her breath.__

Squall checked out his book, and left the library. He ran into Rajin on the way out. "Is she in there, ya know?" 

Squall thought. "……No,." he answered. 

"That's okay, ya know. Oh well. Gotta keep searching, ya know!" Rajin left.  Squall went to the dormitories and changed into the SeeD cadet uniform. _  What does she think of me? _he thought. S_trange, that's the first time I've thought that way. _ He changed and headed towards the lobby. 

"Squall! Over here!" Quistis called out to Squall. She was standing in front of the directory. "I'll be announcing the squad assignments for the exam now. You'll be with Zell Dincht. Quite a lively fellow."

_Lively? He's just loud. He'll just be hot-headed and quick to decision. He'll bring the whole mission down, _ thought Squall. "Can't I change members?" he asked.

"No," Quistis said. "All assignments are final. Oh! There he is now. Over here, Zell!" 

Zell was shadowboxing, then turned around and did a cartwheel and landed in front of Squall. He smiled. 

_Oh, great. I have this guy on my squad. _

"Whoa! I'm with you?" Zell asked. He extended his hand for a handshake. He got none. "I heard Seifer whipped you pretty bad this morning," Zell said.

_Only because he fought dirty and used magic, _Squall thought. "We weren't fighting. We were training," he said.

"Bet you he doesn't think so," Zell responded.

_Exactly what are you looking for? _Squall thought.

"Look, Seifer's just being a pain in the ass," Zell said. "All you have to do is ignore him."

"That's-" Squall started off.

"None of your business!" Quistis finished at the same time as Squall. Quistis giggled.

_When will she realize I hate that? _Squall thought.

"By the way, Seifer… He's your squad leader. It can't be changed," Quistis said.

_Seifer's my squad leader? He may fight dirty, but he'd die before he'd be defeated, _Squall thought.

"SAY WHAT?!!!" Zell yelled.

_I knew Zell was going to act like this, _Squall thought.

"Seifer! Are you there?" Quistis asked.

Seifer walked up with Fuujin and Rajin in tow. Fuujin was out of the line of sight of everyone else, but she caught Squall's eyes and smiled.

"The disciplinary committee's here…" Zell muttered under his breath.

_No, Zell. Don't think that the posse is going to get maneuvered into a better spot than it is. He would **never **let the posse get in the way of his goal, _Squall thought.

"You're the squad leader. Good luck to you," Quistis said to Seifer.

"……Instructor," Seifer started. "I hate it when people wish me luck." Rajin and Fuujin laughed. "Save those words for a bad student that needs them, eh?" Rajin and Fuujin laughed again. Squall could tell that was targeted at him. 

"Okay," Quistis started. "Good luck, Seifer." Squall was confused.

_Seifer rarely leaves himself open like that. _Squall thought.

Seifer waved his hand angrily. "Add Instructor Trepe to the list," he said.

_The list? What is it? _Squall thought.

Quistis seemed unperturbed. "Well then," she said, "You'll be assigned to Squad B. I'll be the instructor in charge."

_You're fooling yourself if you think you can take charge of Seifer, _Squall thought.

"Remember that for this test, teamwork is of the essence," Quistis said.

"Listen up!" Seifer started. "Teamwork means staying out of my way. It's a Squad B rule. Don't you forget it!" Rajin and Fuujin laughed, and Zell went into a battle stance. Then they all heard a voice.

"Everyone here?" The Headmaster of Balamb Garden, Cid Kramer, walked into the room. The founder of SeeD and Garden was of exceeding age, he wore a shirt with a red sweter-vest over it. His face was lined with wrinkles, but his eyes still shone with youthfulness through his glasses.

"It's been a while, everyone. How's everyone doing?" Cid asked. Without an answer he continued. "This exam will involve 12 members in Squads A through D. You will be proceeding to a real battlefield. Obviously, all the battles are real. Life and death! Victory and defeat! Each of these goes hand in hand. Well, how 'bout it? Are you all still up for it? You will be accompanied by 9 SeeD members. Should you fail, these members will get the job done. They always have, and always will."

_Thanks for the words of encouragement, _Squall thought. 

"Well. that should be one less worry on your mind," Cid continued. "The pride of Balamb Garden! The elite mercenary force, SeeD! Learn from them, obey their commands and succeed with the mission. Prove yourself worthy of being a SeeD. Best of luck."

Squall, Seifer, Quistis and Zell went to the parking lot and loaded into the Garden van. They started moving and sped out of Garden, bouncing down the main Balamb road. Inside the van, Zell was trrying to talk to Squall.

"Hey Squall. Show me your gunblade will ya?" he said.

_You'll see it in battle, _Squall said.__

"C'mon, man!" Zell pleaded.

_……no, _Squall thought.

"Just a peek?" Zell whined.

_Ask again and you'll see it being rammed down your throat. Just keep your mouth shut, _Squall thought.

"Tch, fine…" Zell said.

_Uh-oh. Now he's going from annoying to pouting, _Squall thought.

"Yeah, yeah…" Zell continued.

_It's not going to stop, _Squall thought.

"Why you being so selfish? Scroooge!" Zell said. 

_Just keep your mouth shut, _Squall thought.

"Say somethin', will ya? W-what's on your mind?" Zell asked.

_I wish he'd keep his goddamn mouth shut, _Squall thought. and then said "……nothing," just as Quistis said it at the same time.  Quistis giggled.

_I have Zell and Quistis on the same van. Not to mention the ticking time bomb of Seifer, _Squall thought. Zell got up and started shadowboxing, until Seifer spoke up.

"Stop that. It's annoying…" he said. Zell stopped. "…Chicken-wuss."

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?" Zell said as Seifer laughed. 

"Cut it out!" Quistis said. Zell sat back down and leaned back into his chair.

"…Instructor…" Squall started. Zell sat up.

"Yes?" Quistis said.

"Did you see anyone in the infirmary this morning?" Squall asked.

"No, I don't think I saw anyone. Is there something wrong?" Quistis asked.

"No, not really…" Squall answered.

"Oh, great. I have Chicken-wuss and a guy who just reached puberty in my squad." Zell got angry, Seifer laughed, and Squall said nothing. The van traveled into the town of Balamb, the seaside town, peaceful and serene. It sped down the main street, past the hotel, and parked in front of the harbor. Quistis, Squall, Seifer, and Zell got out.

"So that's the vessel..." Squall said.

"Ain't no turning back now!" Seifer said. "You aren't scared, are ya?"

"Hurry up! You guys are the last ones in!" a crew member said. They rushed into the ship. It headed across the ocean, the last of a fleet of ships with SeeD members in them.

Quistis showed them to a room, with three bunks in it. "These are your beds, to rest before the mission."

"Man, I'm too excited to sleep!" said Zell.

"I never need sleep," said Seifer. "It interferes with all the time in life."

Squall said nothing. 

"Aren't you ever going to talk, Squall?" said Zell.

"…whatever." said Squall.

"…whatever." said Quistis, at the same time. She giggled, and he shook his head.

She walked them into the crew cabin, and said, "This is where you will wait before the mission. In an hour, we will have a briefing here." The cabin was somewhat cramped, consisting of four chairs on either side of a table, with room at the front and back of the room. There was a video screen at the head of the room. Seifer plopped himself into one chair, and refused to say anything. 

Zell paced around. "Man this is so exciting! But there's some pressure, too."

Squall looked around. "I'm going to head to the bunks for a while."

"Taking a nap, Leonheart?" Seifer said with a sneering tone. Squall didn't respond.

Squall walked into the bunk room, and laid down on the bottom bunk. There was a porthole right by the small cushion that pretended to be a pillow. He turned on his side, and looked at the waves. _So, it's almost go time, _he thought. _This test determines whether or not I make it into SeeD. I'm sure I'll do well… I think._ He sighed, closed the blinder on the porthole, and drifted to sleep.

_Squall?_

"What?"

_Squall, it's you!_

"Huh? Who are you?"

Squall found himself on a railway track, in the middle of a plain. Off into the distance, he could see mountains and a forest. He thought he saw a city down the railway tracks, but he couldn't be sure. Standing in front of him was a girl, dressed in a blue ankle-length coat, with a black skirt and top underneath. Her hair was black, and her skin was pale. She looked to be Squall's age, but was a bit short. She looked very pretty. She waved to Squall.

_Follow me!_

She turned, and ran away from Squall down the tracks toward the town.

"Wait!" he said.

She ran so far away that she disappeared, and the dream faded away to black.

Squall rolled over in bed. "Wake up, Squall!" Zell said. "The briefing is almost about to start!"

Squall stood up, and walked into the crew cabin. "Thank you, Zell," he said.

As he walked into the cabin, Seifer said "Nice dreams, Leonheart?"

Squall didn't reply. _I think I had a dream, though… I can't seem to remember it._

He sat in a seat, and remained silent. 

Finally, Xu walked in. Zell and Quistis stood up. 

"Hi, Quistis!" Xu said.

"Nice to meet ya!" Zell said.

"Pleased to meet you…" Squall said.

Xu looked at Seifer. "Seifer, how many times has it been now?" she asked.

"Oh, I just love these exams," Seifer said.

"I'll explain the current situation and the mission," Xu said. She walked up to the viewscreen in the back of the cabin. "Be seated," she started. "Our client for this mission is the Dollet Dukedom Parliament. A request for SeeD was made 18 hours ago. The Galbadian army attacked Dollet 72 hours ago. 42 hours into the fighting, they abandoned their position in the inner city. They have currently retreated into the mountains and are reorganizing their troops. That is the current status. Now onto the mission objective. Reports indicate the G-Army is mopping up the Dollet troops in the northern region. We will land on Lapin beach.  SeeD cadets are to eliminate the G-Army within the city and liberate it A.S.A.P. Afterwards, SeeDs will intercept any G-Army soldiers attempting to re-enter the city through the northern region."

"So, what are WE supposed to do?" Seifer asked.

"SeeD cadets are to secure the city from the G-Army," Xu said.

"Sounds important!" Zell said.

"Sounds boring…… So what you're saying is that we do all the dirty work…" Seifer let that hang.

"Oh, it hardly needs to be said, but… the order to withdraw takes priority. Do not forget," Xu said.  She left.

"Well, Squall, go see what's outside," said Seifer.

"……Ok," said Squall.

"Good, because it's MY order.," Seifer said.

_Your order has nothing to do with it, _said Squall.

The group of ships sped toward Dollet. Squall stood on the bow of the Squad B boat, holding up a picture of Dollet, with a military overlay on it, to cross reference it to the scenery. He put away the picture and saw explosions in Dollet, which was when he took his cue to go below decks. The boats prepared in formation, each barreling at full speed through Dollet Harbor. There was a wall that rose about 5 feet over the water, and the Squad B boat smashed full into it. Their boat was equipped with an undercarriage made to resist the impact, and to slide over the wall. This impediment gone, it ran aground on the beach, the disembarking ramp fitting perfectly with the curve of the beach. Other boats arrived on the beach as well. Xu, Quistis, Squall, Seifer, and Zell left their boat.   
Xu saluted, and left.

"Remember, you are to secure the Central Square!" Quistis said. 

"Let's move out," Seifer said, He ran ahead.

Squall and Zell ran up the beach. A set of stairs brought them to one of the main streets. Two Galbadian soldiers attacked. Seifer slashed them down quickly with his Hyperion gunblade in a show of brutal prowess, slashing off the arm of one and spinning quckly to lop off the leg of the next. They continued on, and as they ran down the street past the casino, two soldiers jumped down from the balcony. Zell leaped out and caught one with an uppercut, as they made a show of getting themselves ready for battle. The soldier went down easily,  and his partner slashed out at Zell. The SeeD cadet fell back a step to dodge, and then roundhouse kicked the soldier before elbowing him on the side of the head, dropping him.__

_They have great efficiency, _Squall thought. _They can do things purposely and quickly. _

They ran further up the road. Seifer stopped by a car, perturbed by the lack of another soldier pair attacking them.

"Come on out, you Galbadian cowards! Show me what you got!" he yelled while swinging his gunblade. He ran into the Central Square. 

"What an idiot," Zell said. Squall and Zell entered the square.

"I want you guys to search for enemies," Seifer said. The northeastern street had a Galbadian military vehicle in it. Two soldiers attacked. Squall took them out easily with his gunblade, catching the first who was leaping deep in the stomach, and severing the shoulder of the second.  

"I think that's it…" Squall said. A dog started walking around Seifer, but he waved it off. They waited, Squall stood straight, Zell paced.

"…AAGH! This is so boring!" he said. 

Seifer leaned against a wall. Squall walked up to Seifer.

"Still keeping us waiting…" Seifer said. He then started waving his gunblade around. "What is this? Some kind of dog training?" He ran to the northeastern corner of the square. "Come on out! Don't keep me waiting! He then ran back to the others, as a bunch of Galbadian soldiers ran off to the northwest. The dog then howled. The group looked up and saw the communication tower on the mountain.

"What's that?" asked Zell.

"Our next target," said Seifer.

"But that's against orders!" protested Zell.

"You were just saying how bored you were!" replied Seifer.

"You're not going to go along with this, are you, Squall?" Zell pleaded.

_It's not going to win me any brownie points with Xu, _Squall thought. "I stand by the captains descision."

"Come on!" Seifer said, putting his hand on Squall's shoulder. "I know you just wanna wreak some havoc too!"

Squall pushed Seifer's hand off. "When I'm around you, I feel like I can take on anyone, even if they do fight dirty, like you."

"You'll thank me when the time comes," said Seifer.

Zell walked up closer. "What the hell? I thought you guys didn't get along! You're like, all buddy-buddy now."

Seifer grinned. "Got a problem with that, Chicken-Wuss?"

Zell got into a stance. "WHAT DID YOU JUT SAY?"

"Don't let him get to you," Squall said to Zell.

"All right, listen up!" Seifer started. "We are to head to the facility. We, Squad B, will secure the summit." Seifer ran ahead. 

Squall and Zell followed across a long bridge. They followed up a path until they saw a Dollet soldier scramble out of the bushes.

"AAH! W-Who are you?" the soldier asked.

"We're SeeD cadets from Garden," Squall said.

"What's going on?" Zell asked.

"The G-Army has seized the communications tower!" the soldier started. "Beyond that, the place has always been a nesting ground for monsters," he said. Then a large noise was heard, and the soldier hid. A snake monster slid out. It was called an Anacondaur. 

"Don't worry about it!" Seifer said. Then he announced his next move. "Fire Cross, No Mercy!" A cloud of fire attacked the Anacondaur. Seifer was gathering energy on his sword. He swung it around and shot the energy at the Anacondaur. It fell to it's side dead.

"Great… Monsters." Zell said.

"It just makes our job better!" Seifer yelled. He then ran ahead. They all lay down under a cover of rocks on a cliff overlooking the entrance to the tower. Two G-soldiers and a G-soldier in red instead of blue walked out of the tower.

"Repairs almost complete, sir," soldier A said.

"Are the boosters ready?" soldier B asked.

"Affirmative. Cables connected, and exchange process almost in place," soldier C replied.

"Roger," all three of them said. They walked back into the tower. 

"Repairs?…" Squall said.

"Who cares," Seifer said. They all stood up. "This must be your first real battle. You scared?" Seifer asked Squall.

_I've been in a few battles, but never a war, _Squall thought. "I don't know. I guess I just don't like to think about that," Squall replied.

"I love battles. I fear nothing," Seifer said. "The way I look at it, when you come out of a battle alive, you come one step closer to fufilling your dream."

"What? Your dream?" Squall asked.

"You have one too, don't you?" Seifer asked.

_I have no dreams… _Squall thought. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to pass on that subject."

"Yo! Let me in too!" Zell said. Both Squall and Seifer had their backs to him. 

"Mind your own buisness, Chicken-Wuss," Seifer said. Zell started shadowboxing and pulling his punches dangerously close to Seifer. "What's the matter, Zell? Swatting flies?" Seifer asked.

"Frickin' hell…" Zell said, and punched the ground. Seifer ran down the path to the comm tower, when Squall and Zell heard a voice.

"There you are!" The exchange student from Trabia that Squall showed around stumbled on a rock and tumbled head-over-heels into a patch of grass. She got up. "A-are you… Squad B?" she asked. Squall nodded. "My name's Selphie. I'm… a messenger. The squad captain's Seifer, right? Where is he?" she asked. Seifer ran into view. Squall pointed.

"One of these days I'm gonna tell ya about my ROMANTIC dream!" he yelled, and then ran into the tower.

"This sure is tough…" Selphie sighed. She then yelled, "Captain! Wait up!" and jumped off the cliff. She started waving at Squall and Zell, yelling, "Hurry up!" They ran around the side. When they got to Selphie, she said, "What took you so long? It would have been much shorter if you would have jumped."

"Puh-leeze," Zell said. "A normal person wouldn`t jump off a cliff. Isn't that right, Squall?" Zell asked.

_I wonder what he'd say if I'd… _"I don't know… perhaps anyone but the Chicken-wuss can make it," Squall said.

"WHAT DID YOU SAYYY?!!!" Zell yelled.

"If you're so angry… you must be the Chicken-wuss," Selphie said.

"WHAT THE? Why does everybody say… I AM NOT A CHICKEN!" Zell said.

"You don't like being a chicken? Howbout a PIG? No… you look more like a CHICKEN!" Selphie said.

"Fine! Call me a chicken all you want! I don't care anymore!" Zell said and pouted.

"Don`t take it so seriously, Zell," Squall said. They started to go in.  Seifer was chasing some G-soldiers out of the tower.

"Cowards," he said, and walked back in.

"HEEY!" Selphie yelled. "Squad B captain!" They followed him in. As they walked in they saw the lift coming down. 

_Did he go up? _Squall thought. They followed him

***

A Galbadian commander, dressed in red, was fixing something on a control panel. A G-soldier, dressed in blue, came up behind him. 

"Major Biggs!" the soldier said. 

"What is it, Wedge?" asked the commander, Biggs.

"A monster-shaped shadow has been spotted at the top of the tower!" replied Wedge.

"Then why don't you go check it out?" asked Biggs. 

"Sir!" said Wedge, and ran off.

"grr… Connections won't work, outdated… ARGH! Why do I have to do this?" he asked out loud.

The lift carrying Selphie, Squall and Zell arrived, just in time to hear Biggs say, "All finished!" The floor started shaking. A wrench fell out of a bag and through a grate, bouncing on one of the tower's protrusions before landing in the ocean. The whole tower lit up, the protrusions angling themselves. The platform Squall stood on had three small satellite dishes, and all were moving. Gears were turning inside the tower, and then all of a sudden, a large cylinder-shaped object came shooting out of a large hole. It stopped rising, but the top bent, and three panels seperated themselves and pointed outwards at 90º angles. They all joined, forming a flat circle, then they bent, forming a dish. A large object in the center all of a sudden released many metal extensions. They gathered energy and shot a beam into the sky. 

Squall turned to face Biggs. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Likewise, MISTER!" Biggs said. "WEDGE!!! Take care of these twerps!" No one came. He turned to face Zell. No-one. Same for Selphie and Squall.  "ah.. I-I'll be going now…" he said, backing towards the lift. Seifer arrived and sliced of Biggs' shoulder pad. "AHHHH! What do you think you're doing!" Biggs shouted. 

He prepared to fight. Zell punched him once, (his weapons were gloves with metal on them) and Wedge came, hearing the sound of Zell's gloves on the commander's armor.

"W-Wedge! Where were you?" Biggs asked.

"Looking for monsters. Why is the enemy here?" Wedge asked.

"No pay for you this month!" Biggs said.

"Should have stayed home." Wedge pouted.

Selphie hit Biggs with her nunchakus, and he retaliated by catching her across the head with his gauntlet. She staggered back a bit, and Zell caught her to make sure she didn't fall. She recovered, and Zell stepped forward. He made a show of waving his hand like it was hot, and then crowed, "OHH YEAH! You're gonna be toasty." Squall, Selphie, and Zell all faded from view, and the landscape darkened, except for Biggs and Wedge. They looked around, all of a sudden nervous. A torrent of fire appeared where the party was, and Ifrit appeared in the storm of flames. He let loose a mighty roar, and pulled a large flaming ball of rock out of nowhere, in the alternate-space that existed when a GF was summoned. He rose high into the air with the nearly meteor like rock, and flung it down. Biggs and Wedge's eyes widened, seeing the meteor streak for them, but they were surprised the result. They fell to the ground, and flames licked at them, burning their flesh. Then, Ifrit, the meteor, and the flames disappeared, the landscape returned to normal, and Squall, Selphie, and Zell reappeared. "WE'RE NOT DEAD!" Biggs and Wedge yelled. "YES!" A noise was heard, much like whipping of winds. A miniature tornado descended from seemingly nowhere, and picked up Biggs and Wedge. It threw them onto a support beam on the other side of the satellite, and they crashed to the ground, unconscious. The SeeDs followed the path of the tornado, and saw a large monster, flying from the ground with huge leathery wings. Besides the that and the fact that it's lower body was an insect like abdomen, it's lower torso looked humanoid. Large arms were tipped with sharply clawed hands. The chin was elongated, and the thing was about as ugly as imaginable. The creature looked to be about four times taller than the SeeD cadets.

"I remember him!" said Selphie. "That's Elvoret! He uses mainly wind spells!" 

"We don't have any means to counter that, do we, Selphie?" asked Squall.

"No, sadly, we don't," said Selphie. 

"Well, we'll just have to find another way, then!" said Zell. He dashed up to Elvoret to try and knock it on the chin, but missed. He bounced off the monster's abomen, where Elvoret reached with his huge arms and dashed him to the ground. Zell stood. 

"Oy, but doesn't that hurt!" He continued jawing at the monster, until Squall ran forward and jumped, stabbing down with his gunblade. It looked like Squall was aiming for it's chin like Zell, and it moved the chin out of the way. This cleared the way for Squall's real move, as he slid the sword through the monster's abdomen. As he was halfway through, he pulled the trigger on the gunblade, shooting it off. This created a violent quake in the gunblade, as well as lodged the bullet painfully into Elvoret. The wind monster let out a keening sound. 

Selphie looked towards the monster, sensing with power granted by the GF to see what spells Elvoret carried. She could find stores of three different spells within him, but she could sense a much larger power. "I think he has a GF!" she crowed. She closed her eyes and asked a favor of the GF whom was watching over her, to draw that power from the monster Elvoret. A streak of light flowed from the monster to her. A sensation at the back of her mind told her that yes, that was a GF, and she had it now.

Zell and Squall looked at Selphie. "What was that?" Zell spurted. 

"Don't worry!" she said. "I just drew a GF from him!"

"WHAT?" Zell said. As he said this, Elvoret blew a jet of wind that blew him backwards, into a metal wall.

"Squall, I'm getting ready to summon a GF! Please go cure him for me!" Squall nodded, and rushed back to Zell. He took a flask from his belt, and opened it, pouring it over Zell. It was a glittering gold powder, that disappeared upon contacting Zell. After the flask was empty, he stirred, and rose back to his feet.  

"He almost knocked me under there, he did!"  Zell said. He looked at the thing, and said, "Bastard."

He knocked his gloves together, and started a running dash at it. "You wanna DUEL, BUDDY?" He bounded into the air, and smashed the creature at the top of the abdomen with his fists together. He landed, and pulled back, lurching forward to punch the monster right on the seam that was made when Squall cut it. He whipped around with his leg, and kicked it. He then ran back a little, and took a run at the monster, running up it's abdomen and chest, and jumped off it's forehead, descending to brutally dig his feet into it's face. He bent his knees, and jumped off the ugly surface his legs were standing on, flipping in the air to land with the party. 

Elvoret began to squirm in the air, it's massive wing becoming less and less able to keep it afloat. It crashed to the deck of the tower, and smoke as well as green and yellow colored energy began to rise from it. It's wings snapped off, and fell to the deck. The individual pieces of it began to just flake off and blow away with the wind.

Zell jumped up in the air while Selphie jumped around. "WE DID IT!" she crowed. Squall swung his gunblade around and then sheathed it.

Selphie looked towards the lift, and saw Seifer. "Heeeeeey! Squad B captain! I have a message for you!" Selphie told Seifer. "All SeeDs and SeeD cadets are to assemble on Lapin beach at 1900 hours."

"Withdraw?" said Zell.

"The order to withdraw takes priority," Squall said.

"What time'd you say?" asked Seifer.

"1900 hours," Selphie responded

"It's 1830 now!" said Seifer. "All right, boys and girls, we gotta be on the shore in 30 minutes. Better not be late!" He took the lift down.

"Grr… Who does he think he is?" said Zell.

_Does it really matter? _thought Squall. _It's not like we can do anything._

The lift came back up, and the SeeD cadets took it down. Biggs stirred from his position on the floor. He crawled over and grabbed a remote.

"Those twerps are the targets!" Biqqs said. "Now GO!" He collapsed. 

Squall, Selphie, and Zell disembarked from the lift, in the tower. 

"We gotta get out of here quickly, or else we won't make it out!" Zell said.

They waited for the mechanical door to open, and then dashed began to dash up the mountain path. They heard a noise above them, and looked up. A large mechanical spider jumped down from the top of the tower. Standing about 10 feet, it didn't seem friendly. "What is that thing?" asked Squall. "That's the X-ATM02!" Zell said. "I read about it in a military magazine I found at the shop in Balamb! It's a Galbadian robot, which is made to help it achieve important tasks!"__

_I wonder why they consider this job important… _thought Squall. He was thinking for almost a second too long, as he narrowly missed being knocked down by one of the robot's massive legs.

Selphie, who had been mostly quiet for the battle, jumped forward. "Out of the way!" she cried, and the skies became dark again, showing that she had been summoning a GF. She and the others disappeared from view. 

A spiral of barely organized electric bolts crackled up from the ground, and a giant bird appeared with it. It was the GF of Electricity, Quezaocotl. It was especially hard to tell where the lightning ended and the bird began. The bird extended it's massive wings, and lightning crackled, focused at it's beak. All the energy around it seemed to focus at his beak, It stretched out for a second, and then crackled through the air, towards the machine. The bolt hit the machine, causing an explosion, and sending electricity crackling through its circuits. It's left side collapsed to the ground, and the right side started moving again for five seconds. It then fell silent. "Let's get the hell out of here!" Zell said. They ran away, leaving the robot silent on the ground. They ran up the mountain path, beating a trail back to Dollet. Behind them, they heard a loud, mechanical noise. The spider robot, X-ATM02, was back up and chasing them. 

"I thought we busted that thing up!" Zell exclaimed.

"Forget about that. Just run!" Squall said. They ran along the mountain path. 

The robot jumped right over them, landing in their midst. 

Squall formulated a plan quickly. "All of you! Time your thunder spells at the same time I do!" The party nodded. "One, Two, NOW!" They yelled the command word, and three crackling bolts of energy sparked towards the spider machine, and again it fell to the ground.

"They never talked about self-repairing in the magazine!" Zell said. They ran down the rest of the path, the robot sharp on their heels. They started along the bridge, but when they were about halfway through, the X-ATM02 jumped in front of them, leaping through the air clear along to the other end.

"Now?" asked Zell.

"We run the other way!" Squall yelled. They ran towards the tower, but it jumped again, cutting off their route. They turned around again and headed into the central square or the town. The spider followed them, tilted on one side, until it got into the square. It barreled through, chasing the cadets down the wide street leading to the beach. It's huge motor-powered leg stepped on a car, crushing it. Squall, Zell, and Selphie joined Squad C, who exited from the casino, and withdrew.

"Wait!" Squall heard a voice. It was a member of Squad C who was sick. "Help me…" he said.

Squall helped him up, but the sight of the robot helped the cadet back to his senses. Squall was trailing, and the robot was gaining. Squall went flying over the railing between the road and the beach. Zell and Selphie were already on the boat, but Squall was out on the ground. 

_Can't… give up… _Squall thought. He scrambled to his feet and started running, but the X-ATM02 jumped after him. The robot crashed, and Squall ran. But the robot got up and started chasing Squall! Squall was finding it tough work running on the terrain of the sand, which gave easily. The boat started drifting away from the shore. With a last burst of energy, Squall jumped from the shore to the boat. Squall was aboard, but the spider robot was on the shore, and coiling it's legs as to leap at the boat. "What are we gonna do!" said Zell, standing on the observation deck of the boat. Leave it to Quistis, She rose into the machine gun turret on the bow and riddled the robot full of holes, leaving it finally silent on the beach. "WHOO-HOO!" Selphie exclaimed. "OHHH YEAH!" Zell yelled. As the boat sped away, the robot exploded. Squall stumbled into the crew cabin of the boat, his uniform covered in sand and ripped in a few parts. Seifer got up off his chair, and walked past him, saying under his breath, into Squall's ear. "I knew you'd make it back, Leonheart." He then walked up to the observation deck, and Squall collapsed into a chair in the crew cabin, too tired to move.

Meanwhile, the boat sped back to Balamb…

---

That's as far as I've written right now… if the comp and the Sony ever end up in the same room, I might continue it.


End file.
